I 


The  Abiding  Value 
of  the  Old  Testament 


GEORGE  L.  ROBINSON 


B5530 
.R658 


^(  OF  P,^ 

UN'  10  ]91(? 


THE  ABIDING  VALUE 
OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 


GEORGE  L.   ROBINSON,  Ph. 


PROFESSOR  OLD  TESTAKENT  LITERATURE  AND  EXEGESIS 
MCCORMICK  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


t'N  10  1918 


"The  word  unto  the  prophets  spoken 
Was  writ  on  tables  yet  unbroken." 

— Emerson. 


Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
Press.    New  York.    Nineteen  Eleven 


Copyright,  1911 

BY    THE 

International  Committee  of 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 


To 
MARY— LEE 


THE  ABIDING  VALUE  OF 
THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

EVER  since  Marcion  and  the  Gnos- 
tics emphasized  the  antithesis 
between  the  God  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  God  of  the  New, 
extreme  views  have  prevailed  among 
men  as  to  whether  the  Old  Testament 
is  really  an  essential  part  of  Christianity. 
Some  are  disposed  to  cut  the  New  Tes- 
tament aloof  from  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures altogether,  because,  as  they  claim, 
Christianity  can  live  on  quite  as  well 
without  them.  Others  regard  the  Old 
Testament  as  **the  millstone  about  the 
neck  of  Christianity, ' '  a  stumbling-block 
to  Christians  as  much  as  the  Cross  is  to 
the  Jews.  While  others,  who  are  not 
so  explicitly  antagonistic  in  their  atti- 


THE  HEBREW  CUSTODIANS 

tude,  have  no  adequate  appreciation  of 
the  preciousness  of  the  treasure  which 
has  come  down  to  them  from  remote 
antiquity.  The  same  men,  it  should 
be  noted,  are  usually  lacking  also  in 
their  appreciation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. For,  as  Dr.  George  Adam  Smith 
observes,  *'It  is  one  of  not  the  least 
faults  of  a  merely  academic  criticism, 
that  it  never  appeals  to  Christian  stand- 
ards except  when  it  would  disparage 
the  men  of  the  Old  Covenant."  {Jeru- 
salem, II,  343.) 

Our  estimate  of  the  worth  of  the  Old 
Testament  will  depend  largely  upon 
our  attitude  to  the  Hebrews  as  the 
recipients  and  custodians  of  God's  reve- 
lation to  men.  Their  history  is  '*like 
a  piece  of  shot  silk ;  hold  it  at  one  angle 
and  you  see  dark  purple,  hold  it  at 
another  and  you  see  bright  golden 
tints."  Too  often  the  Old  Testament 
is  studied  with  purely  aesthetic  motives. 
Frequently  it  is  approached  from  the 


CHRISTIAN  ROOTS:    HEBREW  SOIL 

strictly  scientific  point  of  view.  But 
neither — nor  both — of  these  methods  is 
adequate  to  unlock  its  wealth.  The 
Old  Testament  will  not  yield  itself  to 
mere  sesthetic  or  scientific  investigation. 
The  Old  Testament,  above  all  other 
books,  has  spiritual  and  religious  value 
as  the  record  of  God's  revelation  to  the 
world.  The  roots  of  Christian  teaching 
go  deep  down  into  Hebrew  soil,  and  to 
understand  the  whole  tree  one  must 
study  the  roots.  The  institutions  of 
the  Hebrews  are  types  of  Christian 
truth.  Christianity,  as  well  as  the 
Bible,  has  its  Old  Testament  half.  The 
Old  Testament  is  an  integral  part  of 
the  Word  of  God,  a  source  of  inspira- 
tion, and  a  guide  to  ethical  life.  The 
problem  of  our  day  is  to  rediscover  its 
value  and  to  portray  it  to  men. 


The  Old  Testament  Has  Intrinsic 
Value  of  its  Own 

THAT  the  Old  Testament  has 
historical  value  is  obvious  to  every 
student  of  antiquity.  It  is  the 
Ariadne's  thread  to  the  archaeologist. 
(Cf.  Genesis  10  and  14.)  It  is  likewise 
the  fountain  head  of  what  is  known  as 
'  'the  philosophy  of  history. ' '  The  He- 
brews were  the  first  to  take  a  teleolog- 
ical  view  of  the  world,  the  first  to 
interpret  human  events  in  terms  of 
God's  providence.  Other  histories  dis- 
played the  disciplinary  love  of  God, 
but  it  was  left  for  the  Hebrews  to 
discern  that  love  and  to  describe  it  in 
terms  of  God's  love.  To  them  it  was 
not  enough  to  study  mere  events,  they 
sought  the  underlying   principles   and 

8 


LITERARY  QUALITY 

showed  the  nexus  of  cause  and  effect. 
Ottle3%  in  eulogizing  this  quahty  in 
Hebrew  historians,  goes  so  far  as  to 
define  their  inspiration  as  '*the  abihty 
to  see  God's  hand  in  human  events." 

The  literary  excellence,  too,  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  widely  recognized. 
The  charm  of  its  simplicity,  the  variety 
of  its  imagery,  the  grace  of  its  diction, 
the  melody  of  its  rhythm,  and  the  rich- 
ness of  its  vocabulary  and  thought,  are 
conspicuous  features  of  the  whole  Old 
Testament — of  its  history,  biography, 
oratory,  prophecy  and  poetry  alike. 
Even  our  own  English  vocabulary  has 
been  enriched  by  words  taken  over  from 
the  Hebrew,  such  as  Messiah,  Sabbath, 
manna,  Nazirite,  seraph,  cherub,  shekel, 
satan,  shibboleth,  and  many  others. 
Almost  countless  expressions  and  phrases 
of  our  everyday  speech  come  directly 
from  the  Old  Testament :  for  example, 
''See  eye  to  eye,"  "Let  us  eat  and 
drink;  for  tomorrow  we  die,"  "Precept 
9 


RELIGIOUS  ORIGINALITY 

upon  precept,  line  upon  line,"  "The 
shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land, ' ' 
''Without  money  and  without  price," 
*  'Peace  like  a  river, ' ' '  'Everlasting  life, ' ' 
etc. ,  etc.  As  a  monograph  on  compara- 
tive religion,  also,  the  Old  Testament 
is  unique.  Scant  indeed  would  be  the 
sources  handed  down  from  antiquity 
were  the  Old  Testament  of  the  Hebrews 
lost.  This  is  true  not  alone  because  of 
its  quality  but  also  because  of  its  char- 
acter and  genius.  Above  all  the  other 
religions  of  antiquity,  that  of  the  He- 
brews is  conspicuous  for  originality. 
The  Hebrews  seem  to  have  had  a  special 
talent  for  truth  that  was  theistic  and  for 
verities  that  were  eternal.  Through 
their  fertility  of  conception,  which  bears 
the  unmistakable  marks  of  inspiration, 
they  discovered  some  truths  once  for 
all,  truths  which  have  ever  since  been 
regarded  as  essential  factors  in  all  true 
religion.  Primarj^  among  these  is  their 
conception  of  God.  The  Jewish  doctrine 

10 


THE  MAJOR  PREMISE— GOD 

of  God  is  absolutely  unique.  To  the 
Hebrew  mind,  Jehovah  is  not  only  a 
majestic  sovereign,  strong  and  terrible, 
but  He  is  personal,  holj^  merciful,  right- 
eous and  good:  a  Father,  also,  who 
pitieth  His  children,  and  who,  though 
transcendent,  condescends  to  hold  com- 
munion and  fellowship  with  the  hum- 
blest of  His  saints.  The  Old  Testament 
never  attempts  to  prove  the  existence 
of  God;  it  assumes  this  as  axiomatic. 
It  is  ''the  fool"  who  says  in  his  heart, 
''There  is  no  God"  (Ps.  14:1).  "God 
first ' '  is  the  Hebrew  watchword ;  accord- 
ingly everything  is  traced  up  to  Him  as 
Sovereign,  supreme  and  first.  (Cf.  Mac- 
Gregor,  Messages  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, lOf. )  The  frequent  anthropo- 
morphisms, or  human  appearances  of 
God  in  the  person  of  the  Angel  of  the 
Covenant,  instead  of  detracting  from 
the  Hebrew  idea  of  God,  rather  em- 
phasized the  personality  of  God,  and 
actually  prepared  for  the  incarnation — 
11 


A  NATIONAL  CONSCIENCE 

the  transient  paving  the  way  for  the 
permanent. 

The  Hebrews  also  discovered  con- 
science. In  due  time  they  even  pro- 
duced an  order  of  men  who  became  a 
conscience  for  the  nation.  Modern 
prophets  too  frequently  shrink  from 
being  a  conscience  unto  their  people. 
In  order  to  express  Israel's  moral  sense 
of  obligation  to  God,  Moses  formulated 
a  comprehensive  code  of  civil  and  reli- 
gious law,  which  lifted  them  above  the 
plane  of  their  heathen  contemporaries. 
Their  neighbors  were  content  to  worship 
Nature ;  the  Hebrews,  on  the  contrary, 
early  discovered  that  the  law  which 
declares  the  will  of  God  is  better  than 
nature  or  "the  heavens"  which  tell  of 
His  glory:  '*The  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God  ....  but  the  law  of 
Jehovah  (in  contrast)  is  perfect"  (Ps. 
19:1,  7).  They  also  taught  men  to 
pray,  giving  expression  to  their  desires 
through  sacrifices,  which  was  the  antique 

12 


PRAYER,  FAITH  AND  SERVICE 

manner  of  obtaining  the  divine  favor. 
Isaac,  for  example,  entreated  Jehovah 
for  his  wife,  Hterally,  '* offered  sweet 
smelling  fragrance";  for  the  word  in 
the  original,  atar,  which  is  translated 
** entreated,"  is  akin  to  that  in  our 
English  expression  "attar  of  roses" 
(Gen.  25:21).  The  Hebrews  also  cul- 
tivated yh/Y//,  as  the  essential  element  in 
religion.  And  they  emphasized  duty, 
in  particular  the  primary  obligations  of 
honesty,  righteousness,  obedience,  and 
charity.  They  even  enunciated  for  the 
first  time  what  might  be  called  the 
germ  of  * 'Christian  Endeavor,"  as,  for 
example,  when  Malachi  commends  the 
priests  who  "turned  many  away  from 
iniquity"  (Mai.  2:6),  or  when  the  He- 
brew sage  declares  that '  'he  thatwatereth 
shall  be  watered  also  himself"  (Prov. 
11:25).  The  Hebrews  were  the  first 
also  of  the  nations  to  teach  the  sacred 
character  of  patriotism:  for  example, 
Zebulun  and  Naphtali  are  praised  in  the 

13 


GOD'S  HIGH  SCHOOL 

Song  of  Deborah  for  having  jeoparded 
their  hves  unto  the  death  upon  the  high 
places  of  the  field  ( Judg.  5 :  18).  Immor- 
tality likewise  (Pss.  16  and  17)  and 
redemption  (Isa.  63:8),  forgiveness  of 
sin  (Ps.  32)  and  victory  over  death  (Isa. 
26:19,  Dan.  12:2),  are  all  carefully 
unfolded,  with  greater  or  lesser  fullness, 
in  the  Old  Testament — not  so  fully, 
however,  as  to  preclude  the  necessity  of 
the  incarnation.  It  was  left  to  Christ 
to  bring  life  and  immortality  to  light; 
He  it  was  who  filled  with  richer,  deeper 
ethical  content  the  rudimentary  forms 
which  the  Hebrews  were  as  yet  unable 
to  appreciate.  For  we  must  ever  re- 
member that  while  God  sent  the  nations 
to  common  school  and  Israel  to  high 
school,  so  to  speak,  He  sent  the  disci- 
ples to  college  at  the  feet  of  Christ. 
Thus  He  revealed  Himself  ''by  divers 
portions. ' ' 

Most  remarkable  also  is  the  fact  that 
in  the  Old  Testament  the  great  truths 

14 


CONCRETE  EXAMPLES 

of  religion  are  presented  not  in  abstract 
form  but  concretely,  and  indeed  so  at- 
tractively that  the  reader  is  charmed  by 
their  simplicity  and  beauty,  and  by  the 
freshness  of  Hebrew  life  and  faith. 
Take,  for  instance,  some  of  the  great 
characters  of  Old  Testament  history. 
In  the  story  of  Noah,  what  a  parable  is 
there  of  encouragement  to  those  who 
are  misunderstood,  misinterpreted  and 
scoffed  at;  in  the  career  of  Abraham, 
what  an  instructive  illustration  of  the 
summons  which  must  come  to  us  all  to 
go  out  into  the  great  unknown  country 
of  the  other  life ;  in  the  ambitious,  un- 
scrupulous character  of  Jacob,  what  a 
likeness  to  the  spiritual  biography  of 
many  a  man;  in  the  story  of  Joseph, 
what  a  parable  of  the  way  to  bear 
adversity;  in  that  of  Gideon,  what  a 
summons  to  faithful  endeavor  with  as- 
surance of  victory;  in  Samson,  what  a 
lesson  of  the  way  in  which  the  noblest 
opportunities  of  birth  and  power  may 

15 


MASTERPIECES  OF  ART 

be  prostituted ;  in  Samuel,  what  a  splen- 
did type  both  of  a  normal  religious 
childhood  and  of  a  normal  religious  life ; 
in  Isaiah,  what  a  stately  example  of 
one  who  recognized  that  public  affairs 
demand  the  devoted  service  of  the 
holiest  and  most  consecrated  men;  in 
Jeremiah,  what  a  model  of  personal, 
individual  moral  responsibility;  while 
in  Job,  tried  in  the  furnace  of  affliction, 
what  imperishable  evidence  that  the 
present  life  is  all  too  short  for  the  real- 
ization of  a  divine  theodicy  of  perfect 
justice,  and  of  the  inevitability  of  a  life 
beyond. 

In  comparison  with  such  great  mas- 
terpieces of  religious  art  —  such  living, 
throbbing  characters — how  unimportant 
and  insignificant  are  the  alleged  infelici- 
ties and  blemishes  in  the  Old  Testament 
to  which  men  sometimes  superficially 
point  the  finger  of  disapproval:  for 
example,  polygamy,  divorce,  slavery, 
revenge,  ritual,  the  vindictiveness  of  the 

16 


THE  BEAM  IN  OUR  OWN  EYE 

psalmists,  and  judgment;  the  extent 
and  character  of  which  have  been  so 
greatly  exaggerated  by  the  enemies  of 
the  Old  Testament.  Granted  that  po- 
lygamy was  practiced  by  the  patriarchs 
and  others,  and  indeed  was  even  pro- 
vided for  in  the  Deuteronomic  law 
(21 :  15fF),  Mormonism  is  a  vastly  fouler 
blot  upon  the  page  of  our  history  in 
this  twentieth  Christian  century  than 
the  polygamy  practiced  by  the  Hebrews 
is  upon  the  Old  Testament.  Not  one 
of  the  prophets  was  a  polygamist. 
Granted,  also,  that  divorce  was  allowed 
by  Moses,  we  know  on  Christ's  testi- 
mony that  "from  the  beginning  it  was 
not  so,"  but  that  Moses,  because  of  the 
hardness  of  Israel's  hearts  suffered  them 
to  do  so  (Matt.  19 :  8).  Today  in  Chris- 
tian Chicago  alone  there  are  doubtless 
ten  times  as  many  divorces  as  there 
were  among  the  ancient  Hebrews.  And 
granted  that  slavery  was  practiced 
among  the  Israelites  of  ancient  times, 

17 


MITIGATIONS  OF  THE  LAW 

the  slavery  of  their  day  was  very  mate- 
rially mitigated  by  the  regulation  of 
the  Year  of  Jubilee,  which  brought 
complete  release  to  every  chattel  son 
of  Jacob.  Granted  that  the  law  of 
revenge  stands  as  a  recognized  principle 
on  the  Hebrew  statute  books,  so  that 
men  were  legally  permitted  to  exact 
**eye  for  eye  and  tooth  for  tooth,"  it 
should  never  be  forgotten  that  this 
semi-barbarous  statute,  this  lex  talionis 
of  the  Hebrews,  was  an  immense  ad- 
vance over  the  unrestricted  vengeance 
of  paganism,  which  exacted  two  eyes 
for  one  or  as  many  as  it  was  possible  to 
take.  Moreover,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  the  principle  underlying  this 
very  law  still  forms  the  basis  of  the 
civil  law  of  all  Christian  civilized  nations 
throughout  the  world.  And  again, 
granted  that  ritual  bulks  large  in  the 
early  laws  of  the  Pentateuch,  the 
prophets  of  Israel  differentiated  sharply, 
as  Jesus  later  did,  between  the  essential 

18 


THE  GOSPEL  IN  THE  PROPHETS 

and  non-essential  in  religion,  and  thus 
enunciated  the  principle  of  progress  and 
development  which  enabled  Judaism  to 
meet  successfully  every  new  emergency. 
Isaiah  asks,  ''What  unto  me  is  the 
multitude  of  your  sacrifices  ?  saith 
Jehovah:  I  have  had  enough  of  the 
burnt  offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of 
fed  beasts;  and  I  delight  not  in  the 
blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  lambs,  or  of 
he-goats"  (Isa.  1:11).  And  Micah, 
his  younger  contemporary,  still  more 
explicitly  asserts,  ' '  He  hath  showed 
thee,  O  man,  what  is  good;  and  what 
doth  Jehovah  require  of  thee,  but  to 
do  justly,  and  to  love  kindness,  and  to 
walk  humbl}^  w^th  thy  God  V  (Mic. 
6:8).  Granted,  I  say,  that  the  psalmists 
sometimes  appear  vindictive,  and  utter 
imprecations  upon  their  enemies  (Pss. 
109  and  136),  even  Paul,  the  apostle, 
facing  the  headsman's  block,  did  not 
forget  the  offence  of  Alexander  the 
coppersmith    (2    Tim.    4:14).      And, 

19 


JUDGMENT 

once  more,  granted  that  the  Old  Tes- 
tament frequently  tells  of  judgment, 
and  paints  solemn  pictures  of  universal 
doom  upon  those  who  disobey  the  com- 
mands of  Jehovah- God,  the  New  Tes- 
tament is  far  more  explicit  in  the  em- 
phasis it  places  on  eternal  doom.  It  is 
indeed  Jesus  Himself  who  describes  the 
doom  of  hell  as  a  place  of  outer  dark- 
ness and  of  weeping  and  gnashing  of 
teeth  (Matt.  25).  It  was  His  loving  lips 
that  shaped  this  form  of  words,  so  heart- 
touching  in  its  wailing  but  so  decisive 
in  its  proclamation  of  blackness,  home- 
lessness  and  sorrow.  In  the  words  of 
the  late  Dr.  Alexander  Maclaren,  that 
''prince  of  preachers"  and  king  of 
expositors,  ''the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ 
w^as  no  mere  soft  and  pliant  sympathetic 
helpfulness ;  it  could  smite  and  stab  and 
be  severe,  and  knit  its  brow,  and  speak 
stern  words,  as  all  true  service  must. 
For  it  is  not  service  but  cruelty  to 
sympathize   with   the   sinner   and   say 

20 


LOVE  ALSO  IS  STERN 

nothing  in  condemnation  of  his  sin." 
{^appositions  of  Holy  Scrijyture;  on 
Matt.  20:28,  p.  76.)  There  are,  of 
necessity,  two  sides  to  moral  rehgion, 
one  stern,  the  other  tender.  The  law, 
it  is  true,  speaks  in  stern  imperatives; 
but  the  gospel  is  as  rigid  in  its  require- 
ments as  the  law;  in  fact,  its  demands 
and  penalties  are  in  several  instances 
even  more  severe  than  those  of  the 
law. 


21 


II 


The  Old  Testament  is  the  Inter- 
preter OF  the  New 

WE  frequently  hear  men  say  that 
the  New  Testament  is  the 
key  to  the  Old,  but  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  Old  Testament  is 
the  interpreter  of  the  New.  The  New 
Testament  is  conceived  in  the  womb  of 
Hebrew  thought.  Pedagogically  as 
well  as  apologetically  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  an  indispensable  part  of  Chris- 
tianity. '*No  scripture  is  of  private 
interpretation. ' ' 

Few  men  adequately  appreciate  what 
the  Old  Testament  has  meant  to  Chris- 
tianity. The  Old  Testament  canon 
has  had  a  history  in  the  Christian  church 
as  well  as  in  the  Jewish.  It  has 
wrought  itself  into  the  very  warp  and 


FROM  EVERLASTING,  GOD 

woof  of  Christianit3\  This  was  possible 
because  the  essence  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  love.  Even  the  Decalogue  is 
introduced  by  a  preface  which  implicitly 
states  that  it  was  because  Jehovah  loved 
Israel  that  He  gave  them  a  code  of 
laws:  **1  am  Jehovah  thy  God  who 
brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
out  of  the  house  of  bondage,"  there- 
fore, *'Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
before  me"  (Exod.  20:2,  3).  Men  are 
wont  to  say  that  the  Old  Testament 
reveals  a  God  of  justice,  whereas  the 
New  Testament,  a  God  of  love.  Such 
a  statement  is  much  narrower  than  the 
facts.  The  God  of  the  Old  Testament 
is  also  the  God  of  the  Xew,  and  His 
name  is  love :  to  this  the  Psalms,  Deu- 
teronomy, and  especially  the  prophecies 
of  Hosea  bear  witness.  The  Old  Tes- 
tament, indeed,  describes  God  as  dwell- 
ing in  a  temple,  the  New  Testament 
as  tabernacling  in  the  heart.  Ancient 
temples  had  no  windows,  Deity  dwelt 

23 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  NATIONAL 

in  thick  darkness  (1  Kings  8:12);  in  the 
New  Testament  also  God  dwells  in 
mystery,  but  it  is  the  mystery  of  light. 
According  to  the  Old  Testament,  God 
breathed  into  man  the  breath  of  life 
(Gen.  2:7);  according  to  Paul,  "In 
him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being ' '  (Acts  17 :  28).  The  Old  Testa- 
ment gives  prominence  to  the  solidarity 
of  the  nation;  the  New  Testament  to 
the  value  of  the  individual.  The  mes- 
sages of  the  prophets  are  emphatically 
social,  those  of  Christ  individual  and 
evangelistic.  The  popular  national  note 
of  the  Old  Testament  has  been  repeat- 
edly echoed  and  re-echoed  throughout 
the  history  of  the  Christian  Church. 
*'The  Apostolic  church  worked  offi- 
cially upon  the  democratic  precedents 
set  her  throughout  the  law  and  history 
of  the  Old  Covenant."  (G.  A.  Smith, 
Jerusalem,  I,  455.)  Martial  psalms, 
like  the  68th,  have  been  sung  on  the 
plains  of  the  Palatinate,  from  the  lips 

24 


HOLINESS  THE  IDEAL 

of  Cromweirs  Ironsides,  and  in  Scot- 
land's strugfjle  for  crown  and  covenant. 

The  ideals  of  the  two  Covenants  are 
practically  the  same:  that  of  the  Old 
Testament  is  holiness,  *'Ye  shall  be 
holy;  for  1,  Jehovah,  your  God  am 
holy "  (Lev.  19:2);  that  of  Jesus,  per- 
fection, *'Ye,  therefore,  shall  be  per- 
fect, as  your  heavenly  Father  is  per- 
fect" (Matt.  5:48).  There  is  doubt- 
less a  slight  difference  in  the  ethical 
contents  of  these  conceptions,  but  in 
essence  they  are  the  same — likeness  to 
God.  The  reason  for  the  difference  is 
patent  to  any  one  who  will  pause  to 
reflect:  the  Old  Testament  covers  mil- 
lenniums of  ethical  and  religious  devel- 
opment, the  New  Testament  less  than 
a  century. 

As  Dr.  George  Adam  Smith  ob- 
serves: *'The  Old  Testament  lies  not 
under  but  behind  the  New.  It  is  not 
the  quarry  of  the  excavator  or  archae- 
ologist.     It  is  the  Hinterland  of  the 

25 


THE  NEW  LATENT  IN  THE  OLD 

New;  part  of  the  same  continent  of 
truth,  without  whose  ampler  areas  and 
wider  watersheds  the  rivers,  which  grew 
to  their  fulness  in  the  new  dispensation, 
could  never  have  gained  one  tenth  of 
their  volume  or  their  influence. "  Or,  as 
Augustine  has  suggested: 

"The  New  is  in  the  Old  contained, 
The  Old  is  in  the  New  retained ; 
The  New  is  in  the  Old  concealed. 
The  Old  is  in  the  New  revealed ; 
The  New  is  in  the  Old  enfolded, 
The  Old  is  in  the  New  wnfolded. ' ' 

Or,  as  Prof.  Sanday  puts  it,  '*The  New 
Testament  is  latent  in  the  Old,  the  Old 
Testament  is  patent  in  the  New." 
Accordingly,  in  our  study  of  the  Old 
Testament,  we  should  never  lose  sight 
of  its  goal  in  the  New  ;  and  in  our 
study  of  the  new  Testament,  we  should 
never  lose  sight  of  its  origin  in  the  Old. 
The  actual  necessity  of  studying  the 
New  Testament  in  the  light  of  the  Old 
becomes  more  obvious  when  we  recall 


THE  OLD  QUOTED  IN  THE  NEW 

that  there  are  not  fewer  than  five  hun- 
dred direct  quotations  from  the  Old 
Testament  in  the  New.  New  Testa- 
ment saints  found  it  possible  to  adopt 
Old  Testament  utterances  as  their  own. 
Religious  fervor  speaks  the  same  lan- 
guage. Not  only  the  "Benedictus"  ot 
Zacharias  (Luke  1  :  68-79),  which  is  so 
steeped  in  Old  Testament  language 
that  some  one  has  called  it  "an  anthol- 
ogy from  the  Psalms  and  Prophets," 
but  the  Beatitudes  also,  the  conclusion 
to  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Hosannas  of 
the  multitude  on  the  occasion  of  our 
Lord's  triumphant  entry  into  Jerusalem, 
and  even  the  Master's  gracious  invita- 
tion, *'Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor 
and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest, ' '  are  full  of  Old  Testament  rem- 
iniscences and  richly  colored  with  Old 
Testament  thought  and  phraseology. 
Likewise  some  of  the  most  precious 
phrases  in  the  New  Testament,  such  as 
**the  living  God,"  "the  great  Shepherd 

27 


MESSIANIC  HOPES 

of  the  sheep,"  and  *'the  blood  of  the 
everlasting  covenant, ' '  are  but  echoes  of 
the  language  of  the  Old  Testament. 
And  what  is  incidentally  very  remark- 
able, the  most  frequently  quoted  psalm 
of  the  collection,  after  the  23d,  is  a 
psalm  of  imprecation,  the  69th.  But 
no  doctrine  or  teaching  of  Judaism  is 
taken  over  into  Christianity  without, 
of  course,  being  transfigured  in  the  pro- 
cess. 

But  still  more  binding  of  the  two 
covenants  in  one  are  the  Messianic 
hopes  of  the  Old  Testament,  which 
have  found  their  fulfilment  in  the  New, 
and  which  prepared  the  Hebrew  mind 
for  the  coming  of  the  Christ.  With- 
out exception  the  Hebrew  prophets 
were  optimists.  To  one  and  all  of 
them  Israel's  golden  age  lay  in  the  fu- 
ture, not,  as  with  so  many  other  nations, 
in  the  past.  Many  of  them  predicted 
definitely  the  advent  of  One  who  would 
bring  spiritual  salvation  to  Israel.     Jer- 

28 


INTERPRETERS  OF  CHRIST 

emiah  even  predicted  that  a  new  Cov- 
enant would  some  day  supersede  the 
Old  (Jer.  31  :  31-34).  Obviously, 
therefore,  the  Old  Testament  is  the  in- 
terpreter of  the  New,  and  will  continue 
to  be  so  long  as  Jesus  Christ  is  regarded 
as  the  fulfilment  of  Messianic  hope. 
And  accordingly,  '  'it  is  necessary, ' '  as 
Professor  Sanday  observes,  '  'to  go  back 
to  the  old  Hebraic  foundations  of  our 
religion  and  lay  them  again  more  deep- 
ly and  firmly,  or  rather  see  how  they 
have  been  laid  by  the  Great  Architect, 
who  is  so  much  wiser  and  mightier 
than  we." 


29 


Ill 

Paul's  Attitude  to  the   Old  Tes- 
tament 

AT  the  outset  we  must  distinguish 
sharply  between  Paul's  attitude 
to  the  Law  and  his  attitude 
to  law  in  general,  or  what  might  be 
called  the  legalistic  spirit.  In  Gal. 
5: 18  he  declares,  "If  ye  are  led  by  the 
Spirit  ye  are  not  under  the  law,"  by 
which  he  means  not  the  Mosaic  law 
in  a  technical  sense,  but  law  in  general, 
or  the  spirit  of  legalism,  as  opposed  to 
the  spirit  of  love.  To  Paul  the  law 
meant  a  spirit  of  service,  or  a  quid  pro 
quo;  the  gospel,  a  spirit  of  sonship; 
and  these  were  incompatible.  Duty, 
to  Paul,  under  the  gospel  was  no  long- 
er a  foreign  constraint  but  an  inner 
native  impulse.  His  attitude  to  the 
law   as   a   discipline    was    that    of   an 

30 


THE  MORAL  LAW  PERMANENT 

orthodox  Jew,  but  his  attitude  to  the 
spirit  of  legalism  as  a  condition  of  sal- 
vation was  antinomian.  The  law  was 
*'our  tutor  to  bring  us  unto  Christ" 
(Gal.  2 :  20).  The  law  was  something 
*  *added ' '  (Gal.  3:19).  Promise  preceded 
law.  In  order  to  be  justified  the  sin- 
ner must  go  behind  the  law.  Paul, 
therefore,  appeals  from  law  to  prom- 
ise— from  Moses  to  Abraham  (Gal. 
3:16).  The  law  which  failed  to  justify 
was  not  the  moral  but  ritual  law;  for 
example,  circumcision.  The  moral  law 
was  permanent  and  possessed  perennial 
value  because  it  pointed  to  sin  and 
sharpened  conscience.  *'When  the 
commandments  came,"  Paul  says,  **sin 
sprang  into  life  and  I  died"  (Rom. 
7 : 9).  The  moral  law,  like  the  gospel, 
lifts  the  sinner  above  legal  conditions 
and  the  enticing  indulgences  of  the 
flesh  and  realizes  its  ideal  in  mutual 
service;  in  short,  love  is  the  fulfilment 
of  the  law  (Gal.  5: 14;  Rom.  13:8-10). 

31 


TIMOTHY'S  EDUCATION 

Paul  was  not  only  a  friend  of  the 
law  and  thoroughly  conversant  with 
the  law  himself,  he  presupposed  a  re- 
markable acquaintance  with  the  Old 
Testament  among  the  members  of  his 
churches.  Timothy  especially  he  com- 
mends because  *'from  a  babe"  he  had 
known  the  sacred  writings  ''which  are 
able  to  make  one  wise  unto  salvation 
through  faith  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ. ' ' 
And  the  same  sacred  writings  he  most 
cordially  recommended  to  his  readers 
when  he  said:  "Every  Scripture  in- 
spired of  God  is  also  profitable  for 
teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for 
instruction  which  is  in  righteousness, 
that  the  man  of  God  may  be  complete, 
furnished  completely  unto  every  good 
work"  (2  Tim.  3:15-17). 

The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  even 
more  minute  in  its  comparison  of  the 
Old  and  New  Covenants.  Yet  in  it  al- 
so God's  revelation  is  declared  to  be 
continuous.     Its  very  first  sentence  an- 


THE  LAW  COULD  NOT  ATONE 

nounces  that  God  had  been  speaking 
to  men  from  the  beginning  :  "God  hav- 
ing of  old  time  spoken  unto  the  fathers 
in  the  prophets  by  divers  portions  and 
in  divers  manners,  hath  at  the  end  of 
these  days  spoken  unto  us  in  his  Son" 
(Hebs.  1 : 1,  2).  Still  to  the  unknown 
author  of  this  epistle,  as  to  Paul,  the 
law  could  not  atone  for  sin.  Repeat- 
ed sacrifices  are  of  no  avail,  because  in 
spite  of  them  the  conscience  remains 
uncleansed.  The  most  elaborate  sac- 
erdotal apparatus  effected  nothing  be- 
yond ceremonial  purification,  because 
mere  animal  sacrifices  could  not  remove 
sin  (Hebs.  10 : 4).  The  law  even  tends 
to  blur  things,  for  by  its  vast  machinery 
and  ritual,  the  original  plan  of  God  is 
obscured.  Only  Christ  can  forgive  sin. 
Judaism  at  best  is  but  an  afterthought. 
In  comparison  with  Christianity  it  has 
not  even  the  merit  of  priority  which 
seems  to  belong  to  it.  It  is  something 
second-hand.     Christianity  is  the  origi- 


THE  GREAT  HIGH  PRIEST 

nal  religion  of  heaven,  which  **has  cast 
its  shadow,"  as  Peake  expresses  it,  **in- 
to  this  world  in  the  form  of  Judaism" 
(Hebs.  8  : 2).  The  offering  of  Christ 
carries  us  back  into  the  region  of  eter- 
nity. Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  was 
Creator,  in  that  He  furnished  the  plan 
with  His  sacrifice  of  Himself  as  the 
central  fact  of  man's  redemption. 
Accordingly,  He  entered,  as  High 
Priest,  into  the  heavenly  sanctuary — 
the  true  locus  of  realities — and  there 
by  offering  once  for  all  His  own 
blood,  became  the  Author  of  eternal 
redemption.  Chronologically,  Chris- 
tianity succeeded  Judaism,  but  in  real- 
ity Christ  is  the  Lamb  which  was  slain 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

This  in  brief  is  the  position  of  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
But  we  must  not  suppose  that  he  re- 
garded the  New  Covenant  as  some- 
thing quite  apart  from  the  Old,  or  as 
making  in  itself  a  fresh  start.     On  the 

34 


THE  SPIRITUAL  BACKGROUND 

contrary,  the  New  Covenant  was  the 
spiritual  background  of  the  Mosaic 
Covenant.  Chronologically,  to  us,  the 
spiritual  was  subsequent  to  the  sensuous, 
but  in  the  plan  of  God  the  spiritual  pre- 
ceded the  sensuous.  The  ritual  thus 
became  the  husk,  so  to  speak,  to  pre- 
serve the  true  faith — to  protect  the 
ethical  core  from  injury  ;  it  was  tem- 
porary, the  kernel  existed  from  all  eter- 
nity.    Both  were  from  God. 

But  the  final  test  of  the  abiding  value 
of  the  Old  Testament  must  be  the 
revelation  of  Jesus  Christ.  Whatever 
accords  with  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
Christ  will  be  abiding.  We  come  then 
to  the  question.  What  was  the  attitude 
of  Christ  to  the  Old  Testament  ? 


35 


IV 


Christ's  Attitude   to   the   Old 
Testament 

OF  one  thing  we  may  be  certain  ; 
The  Old  Testament  was  Christ's 
Bible,  and  He  was  well  conver- 
sant with  it.  On  more  than  one  occa- 
sion in  His  disputes  with  the  Pharisees, 
He  showed  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  Old  Testament,  and  drew  heavily 
upon  it  (Matt.  21 :  16).  Like  the  Jew- 
ish Rabbis  of  His  time,  He  emphasized 
the  divinity  of  the  law  and  found 
spiritual  life  in  it  (John  5 :  39).  He 
accepted  absolutely  every  precept  of  the 
Old  Testament.  Even  the  leoc  talionis 
of  Exodus  21 :  24,  '*an  eye  for  an  eye, 
and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth, ' '  He  left  stand- 
ing as  a  basis,  so  to  speak,  of  His  own 
higher  mandate,  which  Matthew   Ar- 


"I  CAME  TO  FULFIL" 

nold  has  very  appropriately  called  '  'the 
secret  of  Jesus,"  passivity  under  trial 
(Matt.  5:38-41).  Jesus  abrogated  no- 
thing. As  some  one  has  well  said, 
"No  one  save  Jesus  had  the  right  to 
lay  the  law  aside,  and  He  made  it  im- 
mortal. ' ' 

He  explicitly  stated,  ''I  came  not  to 
destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets,  but 
to  fulfil";  adding  that  "not  one  jot  or 
tittle"  should  pass  away  from  the  law 
till  all  things  be  accomplished  (Matt. 
5: 17,  18).  Jesus,  too,  spoke  as  a  law- 
giver: "But!  say  unto  you."  How- 
ever, when  He  proclaimed  the  Golden 
Rule,  "All  things  therefore  whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you, 
even  so  do  ye  also  unto  them, ' '  He  very 
carefully  added,  "for  this  is  the  law 
and  the  prophets"  (Matt.  7:12).  In 
terms  of  this  Rule,  Jesus  would  ob- 
viously have  us  interpret  all  Old  Testa- 
ment commands.  He,  Himself,  invari- 
ably upheld  the  validity  of  the  written 

37 


TOO  MUCH  EXEGESIS 

law.  What  He  attacked  was  the  Rab- 
binic interpretations  placed  upon  it  by 
human  commentators  and  unscrupulous 
casuists.  Rules  destroy  principles. 
Through  the  mechanical  rules  of  ex- 
egesis the  Rabbis  missed  the  spirit  of 
the  Old  Testament.  It  is  as  unjust  to 
accuse  the  Old  Testament  of  being 
responsible  for  the  Pharisaic  restrictions 
of  Christ's  times,  as  to  charge  Chris- 
tianity with  the  corruptions  of  the 
Roman  Church  at  the  time  of  the  Ref- 
ormation. 

Jesus  nowhere  gives  the  shadow  of  a 
hint  that  any  statement  of  the  Old 
Testament  is  inaccurate  or  needed  re- 
vision or  correction.  On  the  contrary, 
He  set  His  imprimatur  on  the  Old  Tes- 
tament in  its  entirety.  Jesus,  like  His 
people,  is  also  distinguished  for  His 
originality,  but  His  originality  consists 
not  so  much  in  the  new  truths  which  He 
enunciated,  as  in  the  discoveries  of  new 
meaning  which  He  placed  on  the  law  and 


ON  THESE  TWO  COMMANDMENTS 

prophecy.  Jesus  penetrated  deep  down 
below  the  isolated  precepts  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  unified  as  well  as  trans- 
formed them.  The  Old  Testament 
was  not  simply  the  foundation  of  His 
teaching,  not  merely  the  historical  pre- 
requisite of  His  claims,  but  a  constituent 
element  of  His  message,  the  background 
of  His  thought,  even  part  and  parcel  of 
His  conception  of  religion. 

When  He  was  asked,  for  example, 
which  was  the  greatest  commandment, 
He  cited  Deut.  6:5  and  Lev.  19:18, 
not  merely  as  individual  precepts  but 
as  indicating  the  spirit  that  gives  value 
to  all  obedience;  and  He  emphatically 
affirmed  that  upon  these  two  command- 
ments— love  to  God  and  love  to  men — 
hang  suspended  the  whole  law  and  the 
prophets.  Thus  Jesus  soared  away  far 
above  the  petty  disputes  of  the  schools 
about  the  relative  worth  of  isolated 
precepts,  teaching  that  the  sum  of 
man's  duty  and  the  germ  of  all  good- 


THE  REALIZED  IDEAL 

ness  spring  from  supreme  and  unlimited 
love  to  God.  In  this  way  He  shifted 
the  center  of  men's  thoughts  from  con- 
duct to  character,  from  deeds  to  affec- 
tions. The  Old  Testament  sages  had 
said,  *  'As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart  so 
is  he. ' '  Jesus  said,  as  a  man  loves  so 
is  he.     Duties  are  unified  in  love. 

Christ,  moreover,  actually  fulfilled 
the  law  and  the  prophets.  He  not 
only  recognized  Himself  as  the  pre- 
dicted Messiah,  He  also  realized  in 
Himself  the  ideal  of  the  prophets. 
"And  beginning  from  Moses  and  from 
all  the  prophets,  he  interpreted  to  them 
[the  two  disciples  on  the  way  to 
Emmaus]  in  all  the  Scriptures  the 
things  concerning  himself"  (Luke  24: 
27).  The  seers  of  old  had  dreamed  of 
an  empire  which  should  rule  provinces ; 
Jesus  established  a  kingdom  which 
controls  passion  and  exalts  love.  His 
contemporaries  indeed  were  disappoint- 
ed in  Him  because  He  did  not  establish 

40 


LAW  INCARNATE 

a  temporal  kingdom.  Nevertheless  He 
realized  the  spiritual  ideals  of  their 
illustrious  ancestors  just  as  the  flower 
fulfils  the  purpose  of  the  bud.  ''The 
bud  passes  away  as  the  flower  comes, 
but  it  is  not  destroyed,  because  it 
has  fulfilled  its  destiny."  (Barton, 
The  Roots  of  Christian  Teaching  as 
Found  in  the  Old  Testament,  269.)  In 
this  sense  Jesus  became  the  incarnation 
of  the  law  as  well  as  the  incarnation  of 
love. 


41 


V 

Our  Attitude  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment 

CHRIST'S  attitude  to  the  Old 
Testament  must  determine  ours. 
He  is  God,  He  is  Truth.  Fol- 
lowing Christ's  example,  some  of  the 
greatest  thinkers  the  race  has  ever  pro- 
duced, as  Gladstone,  have  recognized 
that  in  the  Old  Testament  we  have  in- 
herited from  the  Jewish  Church  a  very 
precious  legacy.  Bishop  Westcott, 
one  of  the  very  greatest  New  Testa- 
ment scholars  of  modern  times,  freely 
acknowledges  that  the  Old  Testament 
is  an  essential  part  of  the  Christian's 
Bible.  The  fact  that  it  teaches  the 
simplest  elements  of  religion,  and  be- 
gins with  the  utmost  rudiments  of 
truth,  such  as  are  contained  in  Genesis, 

42 


THE  BASE  OF  THE  PYRAMID 

does  not  destroy  its  abiding  value.  We 
do  not  discard  the  alphabet  when  we 
begin  to  read.  We  do  not  remove  the 
base  of  a  pyramid  in  order  to  study  its 
apex. 

Through  the  Old  Testament  the  an- 
cient world  still  speaks  most  eloquently. 
Human  nature  is  a  constant  quantity. 
The  types  described  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  typical  and  practical.  Con- 
sequently we  dare  assert  that  the  Old 
Testament  is  destined,  because  of  its 
inherent  merit,  to  continue  a  fresh 
fountain  of  living  truth,  which  will  ever 
help  to  invigorate  and  restore,  to  purify 
and  refine,  to  ennoble  and  enrich  the 
moral  and  spiritual  well-being  of  man- 
kind. 

Who  can  possibly  estimate  the  mor- 
al influence  of  the  Old  Testament  upon 
the  race  !  So  long  as  sin  exists  in  the 
world  there  will  continue  to  be  need  of 
the  Ten  Commandments.  So  long  as 
greed  and  selfishness  are  found  among 

43 


IMMORTAL  POEMS 

men  there  will  be  the  necessity  of  Law. 
Law  is  not  annulled  by  love  ;  rather 
love  carries  on  its  work  in  a  law- 
governed  sphere.  Even  the  hygienic 
laws  of  Leviticus  are  not  yet  obsolete, 
neither  will  they  be  obsolete  so  long  as 
statisticians  tell  us  that  the  average  age 
of  Gentile  life  is  27  years  while  that 
of  Jewish  is  37.  So  long  as  men  are 
tried  and  tested,  the  book  of  Job  will 
be  imperishable  ;  so  long  as  old  age 
overtakes  the  sons  of  men,  the  book  of 
Ecclesiastes  will  furnish  timely  instruc- 
tion to  boys  and  girls  to  remember  also 
their  Creator  in  the  days  of  their  youth; 
so  long  as  the  race  knows  sorrow  and 
sighing  the  Shepherd  Psalm  will  re- 
main immortal  ;  '*for  though  it  came 
from  an  Oriental  heart  and  is  expressed 
in  terms  of  Oriental  experience,  it  deals 
with  the  deep  things  of  life  with  a  sim- 
plicity so  noble  that  it  touches  the 
heart  of  every  generation. ' '  (McFadyen, 
The  City  with  Foundations,  201.) 

44 


FROM  THE  JEWISH  HYMN-BOOK 

**The  Lord  is  my  shepherd;  I  shall  not 
want. 

He  maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green 
pastures. 

He  leadeth  me  beside  the  still  waters. 

He  restoreth  my  soul : 

He  leadeth  me  in  the  paths  of  righteousness 
for  his  own  name's  sake. 

Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death, 

I  will  fear  no  evil ;    for  thou  art  with    me ; 

Thy  rod  and  thy  staff,  they  comfort  me. 

Thou  preparest  a  table  before  me  in  the 
presence  of  mine  enemies : 

Thou  anointest  my  head  with  oil. 

My  cup  runneth  over. 

Surely  goodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  me 
all  the  days  of  my  life ; 

And  I  shall  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord 
forever. ' ' 

As  one  has  reverently  said,  '*To  live 
up  to  the  highest  expressions  of  the  old 
Jewish  hymn-book  is  to  be  a  pure 
Christian. ' ' 

45 


REALITY  IN  WORSHIP 

The  chief  enemy  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  ignorance  of  it.  For  more  than 
two  millenniums  the  Old  Testament 
has  circulated  among  men,  as  Dr.  Bar- 
ton expresses  it,  ''revealing  the  heart  of 
man  to  himself,  holding  before  human 
eyes  the  law  of  God,  awakening  the 
conscience,  unfolding  the  story  of  the 
Father's  forgiveness  in  Christ,  and 
forming  by  its  lofty  teaching  the  char- 
acters of  the  saints."  And  it  is  des- 
tined, I  firmly  believe,  to  live  on  so 
long  as  true  religion  holds  sway  over 
human  hearts  ;  for,  though  we  may  put 
more  knowledge  into  our  worship  than 
did  the  ancient  Hebrews,  we  shall  hard- 
ly be  able  to  put  in  more  reality. 

The  one  supreme  immortal  element 
in  the  Old  Testament  is  faith  in  the  on- 
ly true  and  living  God.  The  one  out- 
standing portrait  which  it  paints  is  that 
of  the  one  ineffable  Face,  before  which 
stands  the  soul  in  joyful  converse  and 
immortal  faith.      The  Old  Testament 

46 


A  ROLL-CALL  OF  HEROES 

postulates  FAITH  as  the  great  central 
fact  of  religion  : 

Faith  that  believes  in  an  original,  personal 
Creator, 

Faith  that  worships  (like  Abel), 

Faith  that  abstracts  us  from  the  world  and 
enables  us  to  walk  in  communion  and  fellow- 
ship with  God  (as  Enoch  did), 

Faith  that  inspires  us  to  save  others  (like 
Noah), 

Faith  that  drives  us  on  foreign  missions 
(like  Abram), 

Faith  that  makes  the  impossible,  possible 
(as  in  the  case  of  Sarah), 

Faith  that  reconciles  God's  commands  (as 
Abraham's  did  when  he  was  bidden  to  offer  in 
sacrifice  Isaac,  the  son  of  covenant  promise). 

Faith  that  chooses  between  temporary  suf- 
fering with  God's  people  and  the  temporary 
enjoyment  of  sin  (as  Moses  did), 

Faith  that  places  religion  above  patriotism 
(as  Rahab  did). 

Faith  that  suffers  reproach,  imprisonment 
and  even  martyrdom. 

In  short,  the  faith  that  makes  heroes, 

47 


THE  WORKS  OF  FAITH 

gives  substance  to  things  hoped  for  and 
reaUty  to  things  as  yet  not  seen  ;  which 
was  illustrated  in  the  many  Old  Testa- 
ment worthies,  who  "through  faith 
subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteous- 
ness, obtained  promises,  stopped  the 
mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  power 
of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword, 
from  weakness  were  made  strong, 
waxed  mighty  in  war,  turned  to  flight 
armies  of  aliens"  (Hebs.  11:33,  34). 
Such  faith  in  concrete  form  we  find 
inimitably  depicted  in  countless  Old 
Testament  characters.  Surely  the  faith 
of  such  men  will  live  on  and  on  for- 
ever ;  and  not  only  their  biographies, 
but  their  writings  will  continue  to  be 
recognized  by  the  Christian  Church  as 
indeed  ''profitable  for  teaching,  for  re- 
proof, for  correction,  for  instruction 
which  is  in  righteousness."  So  that 
with  Emerson,  we  may  well  affirm  — 

"The  word  unto  the  prophets  spoken 
Was  writ  on  tables  yet  unbroken. ' ' 

48 


THE  SOIL  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

In  conclusion,  therefore,  the  Old 
Testament  must  be  regarded  as  an  es- 
sential part  of  the  Word  of  God.  It 
has  intrinsic  value  of  its  own  ;  it  is  the 
interpreter  of  the  New  Testament ; 
Paul  recognized  its  eternal  validity  ; 
Jesus  Christ  magnified  it  and  made  it 
honorable  ;  and  every  thorough  Bible 
student  recognizes  its  intrinsic  worth. 

To  the  Christian  it  has  perennial  val- 
ue, because  it  supplies  the  soil  out  of 
which  Christianity  has  sprung.  Such 
an  one  will  consequently  read  it  carefully 
and  ponder  it  ;  he  will  likewise  assimi- 
late it,  live  it  and  obey  it  ;  for  unless 
he  obey  it,  it  will  not  yield  itself  to 
him.  There  is  an  esoteric  element  in 
the  Old  Testament  ;  spiritual  things  are 
spiritually  discerned.  He  will  read  it 
devotionally  as  well  as  study  it  critical- 
ly. Even  the  New  Testament  special- 
ist must  be  conversant  with  it.  In 
fact  he  cannot  understand  the  New 
Testament  without  it. 

49 


THE  TEST  OF  LIFE 

Moreover,  in  order  to  appreciate  the 
full  message  of  the  Old  Testament,  it 
must  be  studied  in  the  closet,  and  its 
promises  tested  in  the  actual  intercourse 
of  daily  life.  The  greatest  care  must 
be  taken  to  catch  its  spiritual  signifi- 
cance. Such  an  exercise  demands  time, 
but  the  rewards  are  worthy  of  the  ef- 
fort. Of  no  other  book  is  the  motto 
of  the  old  Schoolman  more  appropriate : 
''We  should  prepare  a  man  for  the 
world  by  taking  him  out  of  the  world 
for  a  while,  to  be  influenced,  not  by 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  but  by  the  spirit 
of  the  ages. "  The  spirit  of  the  ages  is 
the  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  spirit  of 
the  Old  Testament  is  none  other  than 
the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  Truth  is  con- 
tinuous. ''Divine  revelation  is  all  of 
one  piece. ' ' 


50 


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The  abiding  value  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


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